ORIGIN

"V-Chaos-Two," Vargas corrected, but it had the same tone of encouragement, if slightly less exclamatory. Like a parent with a child, reading along, repeating what the child had said but... a little more correctly. "Very good." He glanced down at where it was trying to nudge up against his flank--Vargas was still sitting upright from having plucked Labradorite to its feet, so he had to twist and stare down at it; and all told Two was quite tiny against his massive frame. "-What are you doing?" he demanded at last, staring in confusion; ideas of friendly closeness and comfort, of affection, were (predictably) wholly alien to the Master. Before he could concern himself too much with this aberrant behavior, however, Labradorite abruptly crowed its own name. "Good!" Vargas boomed, appreciative of this show of intelligence, nodding to it. "You have been taught well, V-Labradorite-One." Again, a reinforcement, a repeating of the full name with deliberate purpose. Then it was chasing the other one--the moron, the one that was skittering along the ceiling like a lizard-spider and shouting-... What is a 'nidhogg?' Vargas glared up, and barked back: "V-Chaos-One! You are V-Chaos-One. Not whatever that is. Get down," he added, and then lurched upright abruptly, away from poor Two and its quest for body warmth.

He had to reach up, grunting as Chaos-One screeched and tried to scurry away from him, but Master Vargas' reach was a long one. He plucked it from the rock, having to tug to dislodge all its sticky, clawing toes, and set it neatly on the ground--unintentionally, in reach of Labradorite--only to notice that Selenite was wandering away. "Do not go too far--come back," Vargas growled, and realized at once why Orthoclase-Alpha had chosen to hunt, instead of babysit.

One on the ceiling, one wandering off, one trying to lay on him--they were a small mess of chaos.

Despite his annoyance, at this realization, at least, Vargas was briefly proud.